“I’d say you deserve it,” Tiffany said. “It’s not gonna kill you.”
“That’d be the first thing tonight.”
It was a bit of a morbid joke, but Aurora laughed along with everybody else. Now that he was out of the woods, the adrenaline was starting to settle a bit. She kept looking at him, filled with gratitude. If anything, he seemed even more handsome than before.
Not only that, but his unfailing belief in her helped her face the darker corners inside her. She’d always believed in herself, but he was showing her the ways she could be kinder to herself as well. And kindling her sense of adventure. Everything about this captivating wolf seemed to complete her, make her more whole.
Maybe there was something to the mating bond after all. She’d never felt more at home than she did next to him.
“Fine!”
They all jumped at the shout from the bottom of the basement steps. It hadn’t even occurred to anyone to see what their other roommate might be up to. The thumping of hurried feet chased up into the room, and Ryan pulled up short in the doorway.
His eyes were red as he tugged his jacket close around him, looking ashamed at being seen. For one brief moment, it looked like he was about to say something, but he just bolted through the kitchen in silence. The front door slammed, and the whole table sat stunned. That was about as official as it could get. Nathan and Ryan were off again.
Starting at the ceiling, the walls dripped to black, as if great tears were running down. In short order, the entire place was dark, sheathed in ebony.
“I know,” Kelly said with disappointment as she reached out to pat the wall. “I liked them together too.”
Twenty-Three
The rest of the juniors acted nice enough that it came close to making Aurora suspicious. Given the way she had behaved the day before, it would have been easy for any of them to take pot shots at her over trusting Paul. The trouble was that any one of them would have bought into it too. And it was likely they would have been even worse about it.
Heather, in particular, seemed decidedly quiet and was dressed more modestly than was her habit. Aurora smirked to herself, thinking what a bummer that must have been for some of the guys. They had been getting an eyeful just as much as Paul, perhaps even more because they were around her all day while the former lead investigator just breezed through occasionally.
“Ms. Rhonelle?”
She turned to find District Attorney Boyd Widarin standing in the door to his office. She hadn’t even seen him come in. Moreover, she was almost shocked he knew her name.
“Sir?”
“Join me for a minute?”
A little thrill ran through her. She knew what this had to mean, and so did everyone else in the room. It took a massive effort of will to keep from casting a glance around to take in all the envious faces, but she liked to think she was above that.
She was about to get that promotion after all. Keenan might have been lying when he dangled the job in front of her, but now she was about to become a full investigator in earnest. Or so she hoped.
“Close the door,” Widarin instructed when she walked in.
He looked impressive sitting behind his desk. He was a vigorous man in his mid-fifties, his silver hair swept back, revealing a low widow’s peak. He sat in shirtsleeves, with the cuffs rolled up and suspenders making his barrel chest look even broader.
“Take a seat,” he said with a tight, professional smile.
Pride welled up inside her as she settled across from him. As much as she didn’t want to get ahead of herself, she couldn’t help it. She could already taste the victory of making full investigator in under a year.
“You’ve done incredible work here, Ms. Rhonelle. Everyone in the building… Hell, everyone in Othercross knows it, and I’d say you have a lot to be proud of.”
“Thank you, sir.” She could feel her cheeks redden, but she kept her chin up. With all that lay ahead, she needed to leave such bashful habits behind.
“That being said, I have to admit that this whole Keenan debacle has put our office in a precarious position.”
Something in his tone dimmed the glow inside her.
“It has?”
“Oh, yes. Naturally, Paul’s been relieved of his position, but if we drag this out into a major trial, it’ll make the whole department look bad. Rumors are one thing, but pushing this into the public eye could shake people’s faith that we can do what’s right, especially if we weren’t even able to recognize a criminal under our very noses.”
“What are you saying?”
Widarin leaned back, folded his hands just under his chin, and locked his green eyes on her. “I’m saying, Ms. Rhonelle, that we’re not going to prosecute.”
All of her breath left her. How was that possible? Paul Keenan had murdered two men in cold blood and tried to break into the Treasury! Yet the department was willing to let him walk because of how a trial might tarnish their reputation?
“It’s politics,” he said with a shrug. “I wouldn’t expect someone your age to understand, but consider this your first lesson in how the real world works.”
Aurora sat stunned, unable to wrap her head around what he was saying. She understood—they were going to sweep the entire thing under the rug—but she couldn’t accept it. Her breakfast threatened to reappear all over Boyd’s carefully arranged desk.
“Now,” he said, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his desk, “I have a proposal.”
Her tongue was stuck to the dry roof of her mouth. “What’s that?”
“If you’re willing to keep quiet about how everything shook out, you’ll walk into Paul’s job. From junior investigator to lead investigator in a single step. How does that sound?”
“A-are you serious?” She actually couldn’t tell. The whole thing seemed insane.
“As a heart attack. Tit for tat and all that. Not only will you get the job, but nobody has to know that you were fucking one of the judges on your first case. All the secrets stay secret.”
That hit her like a sledgehammer. In one breath, he had rewarded her and threatened her—all without batting an eye. She was being bullied into a promotion.
“So...” He stood up and extended a hand across his desk. “What do you say?”
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. The current was moving far too quickly and she was being swept along with it. Moving as if she were in someone else’s skin, she found herself on her feet, her hand in his.
“Excellent!”
He put his hand on her shoulder and walked her out of his office. She was in such a daze, she didn’t realize they were even moving until she found herself in Paul’s old office.
“Here you go,” Widarin said, sweeping his hand to present the space to her. “Make yourself at home.”
Then he was gone.
Aurora stood completely stunned, looking around at all of Paul’s possessions. His books on the shelf, his awards lined up neatly on the wall. A picture of his parents even sat at the corner of his desk.
This is wrong.
The whole thing smacked of something more than politics. She couldn’t express exactly how, but she had a feeling in the pit of her gut. And, if she was learning anything from Dane, it was that she needed to start trusting her instincts. If she felt something was wrong, then something definitely was.